In March, Benson passes the six-year mark as University of Colorado president

University of Colorado President Bruce Benson's daily wardrobe usually consists of a pressed white button-down shirt, with his initials engraved on the breast pocket, a tie — often picked out with advice from his wife Marcy, black pants, a suit jacket and his signature choice of footwear, a pair of jet-black cowboy boots.

"They're comfortable," Benson said with a shrug. "I've been wearing boots forever."

Those boots, or rather, the handful of pairs that Benson wears every day with his suit, have taken him all over the state and the nation during the last six years advocating for CU and for higher education more broadly.

In February, Benson surpassed his predecessors to become the longest-serving CU president in 50 years.

On March 10, he'll celebrate his sixth anniversary as CU president, proving to his early critics that he has staying power in the world of higher education.

The boots are a reminder of where Benson came from — not from within CU's classrooms as a professor who rose through the ranks as a traditional academic, but the oil fields of Wyoming and Colorado, where he worked during the summers and while attending classes on the Boulder campus in the early 1960s and then built himself into a successful businessman and philanthropist.

"I tell people he's a recovering oil field roughneck," said CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue. "He says 'I don't know if I've recovered.' He never forgot where he came from."

Before his hiring in 2008, many faculty, students and members of the Board of Regents questioned Benson's lack of experience in higher education, his partisan stance and political motives and his academic credentials — Benson has a bachelor's degree from CU.

But six years later, Benson, 75, has a long laundry list of accomplishments to his name and no public plans to give up his presidency anytime soon.

University of Colorado President Bruce Benson, right, listens to Pam Shockley-Zalabak, left, Chancellor of the CU-Colorado Springs campus, at a legislative breakfast at the CU Systems Services office in Denver on Thursday. (MARK LEFFINGWELL / Daily Camera)

"There were obviously a lot of skeptics when he was hired, but while they can be skeptical at that point, I think reasonable people sit back and say 'Let's see what you can do,'" McConnellogue said. "And by most objective measures, I think the president has done a great job in moving the university forward."

Fundraiser, innovator, businessman

When Benson was hired in 2008, CU — and the nation — was facing some of the worst economic times since the Great Depression.

But Benson set to work raising money, and in November, the university announced that it had raised $1.5 billion as part of the "Creating Futures" campaign chaired by Benson and his wife, Marcy Benson.

Amid declining state funding for higher education, that campaign generated more private support than any other in the university's history.

CU has also set records in research funding under Benson, bringing in $774 million last year.

"We're continuing to move forward and as a businessman, what he has done is seen the difficult economic times as an opportunity," McConnellogue said. "It was an opportunity for the university to find efficiencies, to look at the revenue streams it can influence and bolster those and to make some strategic cuts."

Through an efficiency task force, Benson reduced the number of university policies from 210 to 88, and from 650 total pages of policy to 265, McConnellogue said. Benson and his administration also took the more than 400 different CU logos floating around and condensed them into just a handful through a coordinated branding effort.

He has secured legislation to allow the university to save money, increase revenue streams and operate more efficiently, including legislation that gave CU the flexibility to enroll more international students, which has boosted the university's reputation abroad and increased revenues, McConnellogue said.

And the list goes on. Benson is on Facebook and Twitter — he tweets all the time, says McConnellogue — and he has grown his electronic newsletter audience from 85,000 to 372,000.

He helped the university transition into the Pac-12 conference and helped create a health network across Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska.

Benson formed a personal relationship with Daphne Koller, co-founder and chief executive officer of Coursera, the online platform that offers massive open online courses, or MOOCs.

Last fall, professors on the Boulder campus taught four MOOCs on Coursera, which many described as a resounding success.

"He recognizes that the effective use of technology all the way from delivery to delivery models to organizational structures is not just the future, but it's the present," said Deborah Keyek-Franssen, associate vice president for digital education and engagement

Though Benson won't talk about his personal wealth, he has been characterized as a multi-millionaire. He's a generous donor to the university and other causes, never submits expense reports and is "leaving millions on the table" with his $359,000 salary at CU, McConnellogue said.

The self-made oil executive founded Benson Mineral Group in 1965, one year after graduating from college, and also has been involved in geothermal power, real estate, banking, mortgage servicing, cable television, restaurants, franchising, manufacturing and trucking.

Despite all of his financial successes, Benson maintains a deep respect for everyone from the cleaning crew to the university's top administrators, McConnellogue said.

Much of Benson's success as president can be attributed to the vast network of relationships he's built, said Regent Sue Sharkey, R-Castle Rock. She added that Benson has worked on building a relationship with her personally since she was elected to the board three years ago.

"If you want to get something done, the relationships are what makes it work," Benson said. "It's all about these relationships. You just keep building them and then you're working with your friends and you get more work done. You're not using people. You're just capitalizing on the relationships."

'He proved me wrong'

But before all of his accomplishments as president, Benson faced harsh skepticism from regents, students and faculty members.

The Boulder Faculty Assembly voted 40-4 against a motion to support Benson as a finalist for president, and three of nine regents voted against hiring him in the end.

Two of those 'no' votes, Stephen Ludwig, a Democrat who holds an at-large seat, and Denver Democrat Michael Carrigan, the board's chairman, are still on the board.

During a tense discussion at a special regents meeting in February 2008, Ludwig and Carrigan raised concerns about Benson's ability to form relationships with lawmakers, his lack of an advanced degree, his history of partisanship and the widespread opposition from students and faculty.

Both said they feel differently today.

"I don't regret my vote and I'm a huge supporter of President Benson," Ludwig said. "He proved me wrong. Whatever I was worried about at the time, none of those came to fruition. He's doing a great job. He's been a huge asset to the university. He has more energy than like four other people combined."

Carrigan said Benson's "personal fundraising prowess" has served the university well.

Many faculty members were concerned about having a president who was not "one of their own," or someone who didn't rise through the ranks of academia to finally become president. Others were concerned when Benson emerged as the lone finalist for the job, which didn't give them much say in who would become CU's next president.

Jeff Mitton, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology on the Boulder campus, said the selection process left a bad taste in his mouth about Benson.

Overall, Mitton said he's not comfortable with a businessman or woman running the university because they don't understand the classroom or research. To Benson's credit, however, Mitton said the president has not "fiddled" with the workings of the campus.

"I would much prefer to see the campus choose someone from the ranks of the faculty on campus so that way we don't get surprises," he said. "If you look around and say 'Who has been loyal the university? Who has distinguished himself in scholarship and teaching? Who can we call on to lead us for a few years?' There would be some fine, fine people on campus (for the job). And yet they turn to business people who know nothing about teaching or writing papers or submitting grant proposals or meeting with undergraduates."

Don Eron, treasurer of the American Association of University Professors CU-Boulder chapter and senior instructor, said the university has experienced an "erosion" of shared governance and academic freedom since Benson took the helm.

Eron pointed to the 2009 shuttering of the Silver and Gold Record, which covered campus issues.

"That was a catastrophe," Eron said. "I don't think we've yet recovered. That was the means of communication among the faculty. It was a vehicle by which the faculty, by staying abreast (of campus issues), could fulfill their role of shared governance. Shutting it down says a lot about Benson's understanding of the function of the faculty. Basically he runs things and the faculty are supposed to stay in their labs."

After six years, Benson said he's confident he's won over any former naysayers by talking to them, listening to them and asking how he and the university can support them.

"I don't have to say anything to them because they're my friends now," Benson said.

'Man for all seasons'

In the end, though, Benson's background in politics, philanthropy, education and business may be what has allowed him to succeed when other CU presidents have failed.

Many of his recent predecessors left after between three and five years, several on the heels of scandals.

By national standards, Benson's tenure so far has been longer than the average. Statistics compiled by the American Council on Education found that the average length of a president's career at a doctorate-granting institution in 2011 was 5.8 years, down from 7.4 years in 2006.

The backgrounds of university presidents are also changing. The same report found that in 2011, 30 percent of all university presidents had never been a faculty member.

"In many ways, this is a man for all seasons in Colorado," said American Council on Education President Molly Corbett Broad. "He has done everything in business, in education, in politics, in fundraising and he's reached beyond Colorado to serve higher education in roles as a board member in other parts of the country.

"So in many ways, his tenure reflects the fact that he has high credibility, he is trusted and dedicated to the well-being of Colorado."

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